Finding a hostel in Hong Kong can be a backpackers problem

As simple as booking a hostel room sounds around the world, in Hong Kong it can be a problem for backpackers.

Due to Hong Kong’s high population rate in such a small land space, it can be a struggle to find any room at all for backpackers.

Hotels simply charge a premium and business travellers pay up, but for backpackers on a budget this can be a struggle.

For this reason you will notice when walking around Hong Kong, buildings are packed tightly and stacked on top each other to make space in this ever growing city.

Hong Kong can be an affordable destination when it comes to buying street food and using public transport, but when it comes to budget hostel backpacker accommodation its no where to be found.

When looking for Hostel World, Many of the cheapest listings require you to fill 6 bed private dorm rooms fully in order to book. Hardly useful when you’re travelling solo. This means you will have to pay for 5 additional beds which come across as rather silly.

Couchsurfing is also very difficult to do in Hong Kong as living conditions for locals are confined in very small spaces, not ideal for hosting guests. Many locals highlight on their profile they would like to meet up with visitors to show them around Hong Kong, which is a lot easier. This can be a lot fun as its hard to find your way around all the endless amounts of different food dishes in Hong Kong.

What Options does that leave you with?

Because space is hard to come by, Large residential blocks have split up some quarters of the building to rent out small block rooms on a pay per a night basis. Hotels are simply too expensive for backpackers but these small block room options can be a solution.

(Yes the bed is so small my legs are over the edge)

You can find one of these rooms for around £10-20 a night and as you can see its pretty simple, a bed, extremely small bathroom (can just about do a 360 turn in it, makes showering fun) and a small hallway which your bag fits on when you need to use the bed. Yes, this is Hong Kong, this is how it’s done, for a solo backpacker you need to look at the positive, its cheap and you will want to spend all your time exploring the city anyway.

And when finding the location of your small room except to walk around a large apartment block to find it, hopefully it will be sign posted but you’re mostly be going up and down a residential block to find it. Don’t worry, this is very normal, just think about security though, want to avoid leaving valuables in your room when you’re out exploring.

Any other alternative?

Airbnb is a growing solution to this exact problem. Residence in Hong Kong can post a spare room or space they have for travellers for a set price, sort of like locals become a hotel for a night for those in need.

I did try this option when in Hong Kong but I was too late to make requests, if you plan on using Airbnb for Hong Kong then make sure you search well in advance to avoid the best rooms being booked. If you have never used Airbnb, feel free to use this link and you can get a discount off your first stay.

Hong Kong Is an incredibly awesome city to explore and discover, once you have worked around the difficult challenge of finding an affordable room then you can start to enjoy the city.

I hope you found this blog post useful and enjoy your time in Hong Kong!